Information for Service Families

Service Pupil Premium

What is the Service Pupil Premium?

The Department for Education (DfE) introduced the Service pupil premium (SPP) in April 2011 in recognition of the specific challenges children from Service families face and as part of the commitment to delivering the armed forces covenant.

State schools, academies and free schools in England, which have children of Service families in school years reception to year 11, can receive the SPP funding. It is designed to assist the school in providing the additional support that these children may need and is currently worth £335 per Service child who meets the eligibility criteria.

Eligibility criteria

Pupils attract SPP if they meet one of the following criteria:

  • one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces (including pupils with a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service)
  • they have been registered as a ‘Service child’ on a school census in the past six years, see note on the DfE’s ever 6 Service child measure
  • one of their parents died whilst serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme
  • one of their parents is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England

Children have to be flagged as Service children ahead of the autumn school census deadline. Service parents need to make the school aware of their status by talking to the head teacher or school admin staff.

DfE’s ever 6 service child measure

The premium was extended, such that any pupil in reception to year 11, who has been flagged as a Service child in the last six years, will continue to receive the premium (Ever 6 service child). Please see the ESFA’s pupil premium grant guidance for more information.

Ex Service personnel should tell the school if they left the armed forces within the last six years. Under the DfE’s ever measure, schools will continue to receive SPP for up to six years for children whose parent(s) left the armed forces, provided the children were recorded as Service children in a school census (prior to their parent(s) leaving the forces). The ever measure also applies when Service parents’ divorce or separate or when a Service parent dies in service.

The purpose of the Service pupil premium

Eligible schools receive the SPP so that they can offer mainly pastoral support during challenging times and to help mitigate the negative impact on Service children of family mobility or parental deployment.

Mobility is when a Service family is posted from one location to another, including overseas and within the UK.

Deployment is when a Service person is serving away from home for a period of time. This could be a 6 to 9-month tour of duty, a training course or an exercise which could last for a few weeks.

How Service pupil premium differs from the pupil premium

The SPP is there for schools to provide mainly pastoral support for Service children, whereas the pupil premium (PP) was introduced to raise attainment and accelerate progress within disadvantaged groups.

SPP at Honington CEVCP School

We are aware that the military life experienced by our pupils has many wonderful aspects and presents them with a diverse range of opportunities and experiences. However, many pupils will, at some point during their schooling, struggle with an aspect of service life. This may be directly (e.g. experiencing distress or concern when a parent is away on deployment) or indirectly (e.g. through the disruption to friendship groups caused by high mobility).

Some of the issues service pupils can face include:

  • separation anxiety
  • maintaining friendships
  • gaps in learning due to frequent moves
  • social, emotional and mental health needs
  • transitions
  • SEND needs which require additional help
  • Delays in information transfer (between schools, Local Authorities etc.)

At Honington around 46% of our pupils come from service families, which is unusual for a Suffolk Local Authority Maintained school.

The rationale behind our spending of the SPP is to ensure that the funding directly supports pupil wellbeing. Whilst aspects of our provision may not be directly relevant to a particular child at a specific point in time, the pupil may well come to need it in the future. For example, a child may not have to deal with any parental deployments one year, so doesn’t need support from our PSW, but may experience this and require support the next. By continuously providing this support we ensure the option is there whenever the need arises.

Please click here to see our Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 23-24 which includes details of our Service Pupil Premium.